SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team finished the Crystal Innvitational with a 3-1 record after sweeping opponents on Saturday.

                The Cougars capped off the tourney by sweeping pre-season No. 1 College of Southern Idaho 25-20, 25-16, 25-18 behind a double-double of 18 kills and 11 digs from Karen Cordero. The Cougars finished off a perfect day with a 25-15, 25-15, 25-20 sweep of Western Wyoming Community College.

                WNCC split matches on Friday in the first day of the tourney, topping Central Wyoming College 25-21, 25-20, 25-14 before falling to Salt Lake Community College 25-20, 25-22, 27-25 in three sets.

                WNCC dominated Saturday's action. In the morning opener against CSI, WNCC finished the match with 50 kills, led by Cordero with 19 and a hitting efficiency of .545.

                The Cougars took control of the first set as Luisa Beining pounded home two kills for a 12-11. WNCC would never trail again in the set, rolling to the 25-20 win.

                The second set saw CSI hold a 4-2 lead before two service points from Beining for a 5-4 lead. WNCC pushed the lead to 15-9 and went to 21-11 after four Ana Costas points. WNCC won the second 25-14.

                WNCC led from start to finish in the third set. Cordero started the set with five straight points and doubled the score at 14-7 on two Anu Kaohi points. CSI cut the lead to 21-18, but a kill from Leslie Mamai-Lagafuaina and three points from Kaohi gave the Cougars the 25-18 win.

                Beining and La'Treva Kennedy each had nine kills in the win, followed by seven from Mamai-Lagafuaina and six from Gabriela Canavati.

                Costas has 12 digs followed by eight by Adia Sherbeyn, seven from Kaohi, and five each from Beining and Olivia Transfiguracion. Transfiguracion tallied 46 assists in the win.

                Cordero tallied another double-double against Western Wyoming to cap off the day. Cordero finished with 11 kills and 13 points. Beining and Mamai-Lagafuaina also finished with 11 kills in the win.

                WNCC controlled all three sets in the Western Wyoming match. In the opener, WNCC held a slim 7-6 lead before Costas put together three service points for a 11-6 lead. WNCC led 19-10 and won the set 25-15 on three Costas serves.

                WNCC led from start to finish in the second set. WNCC held a slim 8-6 lead but soon pushed the lead to 17-10 on two Costas points and won 25-14.

                Cordero opened the third set with eight straight points only to watch Western Wyoming come back to tie the set at 10-10. WNCC went up 14-10 and led 19-14 before winning 25-20 on a Costas serve.

                Besides Cordero, Beining, and Mamai-Lagafuaina with 11 kills, Canavati had seven kills, while Kennedy had three. Andrea Tsvetanova tallied 18 set assists, while Transfiguracion ahd 23 assists and five digs.

                Costas finished with 18 digs while also picking up nine points. Sherbeyn finished with eight digs. Mamai-Lagafuaina had four solo blocks and three assist blocks.

                In action on Friday when the Cougars split matches, WNCC swept through Central Wyoming in the tourney opener.               

                WNCC was led by Cordero with 11 kills and 12 points in the win against the Rustlers. Mamai-Lagafuaina and Beining had seven and eight kills respectively against Central Wyoming while Canavati tallied six. Transigifuracion tallied 22 set assists while Andrea Tsvetanova had nine set assists.

                Ana Costas tallied eight digs while Beining had four.

                In the loss to Salt Lake Community College, WNCC was their worst enemy committing 15 service errors. Salt Lake wasn't much better from the service line with 11 service errors.

                WNCC was competitive in all three sets. The first set they held an 11-9 lead before a 7-1 run pushed the score to 16-12. WNCC sliced the lead to 22-20, but a missed serve and two points from the Bruins gave them the first set win.

                The second set was also competitive. Salt Lake held a 15-10 lead before WNCC sliced the led to 16-14 and later 23-20, but they couldn't get any closer.

                The final set was a thriller as both teams battled back and forth. WNCC fell in the final set 27-25.

                Mamai-Lagafuaina led the team with 11 kills while Kennedy had eight and Beining finished with seven. Cordero led the team in digs with 11 while collecting two aces. Ana Costas finished the game with eight digs, while Transfiguracion tallied 31 set assists.

WNCC, 6-3, will be back in action Tuesday when they travel to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to face Laramie County Community College.